After two previous delays, including an abort-at-ignition and a booster swap, SpaceX launched the ‘From One To Many’ payload for Astranis tonight from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral aboard Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 12:00 AM EST (05:00 UTC) under broken skies on the Space Coast.
After two previous delays, including an abort-at-ignition and a booster swap, SpaceX launched the ‘From One To Many’ payload for Astranis tonight from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral aboard Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 12:00 AM EST (05:00 UTC) under broken skies on the Space Coast.
Around 8.5 minutes later, Falcon 9 Booster B1083 completed its seventh mission successfully when it touched down on ASDS ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ stationed downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. ASOG and B1083 will now return to Port Canaveral, where the booster will be offloaded and returned to SpaceX’s Hangar X at Kennedy Space Center for inspection and preparation for its eighth flight.
At 3:02 AM EST, Astranis CEO said, “Great news– we have acquired and established command authority over all four spacecraft.”
Four Astranis MicroGEO Block 2 communications satellite were delivered to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Once they have been deployed, they will travel to their final orbital locations under their own power.
SpaceX is planning to launch Starlink 12-6 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center NET Monday, December 30, 2024. The launch window opens at 12:00 AM EST (0500 UTC) and closes at 3:28 AM the same day.
Blue Origin had a very good day on Friday: they completed their first-ever integrated static fire of New Glenn, after having received a five-year license for New Glenn launch and recovery operations for Cape Canaveral.m
An FAA launch license was perhaps the last major regulatory milestone for Blue Origin in its launch campaign for the New Glenn maiden launch. Late Friday afternoon, the FAA announced that it had granted the company the necessary legal clearance to fly the vehicle:
“The FAA is committed to enabling the success of the U.S. commercial space transportation industry without compromising public safety,” said the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation Kelvin B. Coleman. “By working closely with Blue Origin, the FAA issued this new launch license well in advance of the statutory deadline for the historic maiden flight of New Glenn.”
Under the license, Blue Origin can conduct orbital missions from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the New Glenn first stage landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. It is valid for five years.
In recent weeks, New Glenn has mostly been vertical at Launch Complex 36 as Blue Origin ran tests, honed procedures and rehearsed the terminal countdown of the rocket before its first flight. Those tests culminated Friday when launch controllers went all the way down to T-0 and briefly ignited New Glenn’s seven BE-4 main engines all together for the first time.
Blue Origin stated in a press release that the data obtained during testing will be utilized to finalize day-of-launch timelines, confirm expected performance, and correlate models to real-world test data.
“This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what’s just around the corner for New Glenn’s first launch,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “Today’s success proves that our rigorous approach to testing–combined with our incredible tooling and design engineering–is working as intended.”
The tanking test included a full run-through of the terminal count sequence, testing the hand-off authority to and from the flight computer, and collecting fluid validation data. The first stage (GS1) tanks were filled and pressed with liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX), and the second stage (GS2) with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen–both to representative NG-1 set points.
The formal NG-1 Wet Dress Rehearsal demonstrated the final launch procedures leading into the hotfire engine run. All seven engines performed nominally, firing for 24 seconds, including at 100% thrust for 13 seconds. The test also demonstrated New Glenn’s autogenous pressurization system, which self-generates gases to pressurize GS1’s propellant tanks.
Blue Origin, September 27, 2024
According to Blue Origin, “The campaign met all objectives and marks the final major test prior to launch.”
New Glenn is now expected to launch on January 6, 2025.
On Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Blue Origin continued testing New Glenn as it prepares for the first launch of the company’s first orbital rocket. The company fueled the rocket and conducted simulated countdowns.
Despite no rockets heading to space this weekend from the Eastern Range, it was still quite a busy weekend for both SpaceX and Blue Origin at Cape Canaveral.
First up on deck was SpaceX and Falcon 9 out at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for the Astranis “From One To Many” mission. After a couple of short pushes to later in the evening, T-0 was set for midnight on Saturday morning.
The countdown seemed smooth and without incident, but when Falcon 9 ignited its engines, there was an immediate shutdown and a launch abort. Due to the nature of Falcon 9’s propellants, a scrub for the evening was called immediately.
SpaceX has not disclosed what caused the shutdown to happen, but as of Sunday morning, Falcon 9 is horizontal on the launch mount at SLC-40. Both rocket and payload are safe, and SpaceX’s team is working to remediate the issue(s) that caused the shutdown. They have not announced a new launch day/time for the next attempt for this mission.
Over at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Blue Origin continued testing New Glenn as it prepares for the first launch of the company’s first orbital rocket.
Throughout the day and early to the evening, Blue’s team conducted a Wet Dress Rehearsal for New Glenn, and at times a Static Fire of the first stage seemed imminent: the venting would stop, flame from burn-off stacks would diminish, while ice was falling off of the rocket. But, alas, it was not meant to be.
The status and outcomes of the Wet Dress Rehearsals have not been released by Blue Origin. Given that New Glenn remains upright and that no statement of any potential delays have been announced, optimistically, things seem to be going well.
No timelines for any potential static-fire or launch attempts have been given. Aside from successfully completing prelaunch operations and a static fire of New Glenn, Blue Origin still needs a launch license from the FAA before it can send New Glenn on its debut flight. Given that Blue Origin has said that they are planning to launch this year, it will need to come soon — and the Christmas holiday looms next week.
A quick look at Port Canaveral saw no SpaceX automdated drone ships in port, but both of their support ships, Bob and Doug, were moored at the SpaceX docks.
Booster B1090 is on the dock awaiting transportation to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center, and by all appearances, that move will be made quite soon.
Only a few yards to the northwest, Blue Origin’s booster landing ship Jacklyn and its support ship, ‘Harvey Stone’ were also in port.
SpaceX is on deck for Starlink 12-2.
Views from the launch pad of Falcon 9 at Space Launch Complex 40. Later that night, when the engines that power the first stage were ignited, a problem was detected by the rocket’s computers and an instant shutdown and launch aboard were automatically triggered. Both rocket and payload are safe.
Vast, the aerospace company best known for building one of the first commercial space station segments, announced today that they have secured a deal with SpaceX for two Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station (ISS) in support of Vast’s future bid for NASA’s private astronaut missions (PAM). The missions will fly on Falcon 9 if VAST if the Vast PAM bid is accepted by the agency.
“Enabling payload and crewed missions to the ISS is a key part of Vast’s strategy, allowing us to further our collaboration with NASA and global space agencies. These missions not only strengthen our expertise in human spaceflight operations and collaboration with NASA, but also position Vast as a leading contender to deliver the next-generation successor to the ISS, advancing the future of human space exploration,” said Max Haot, Chief Executive Officer of Vast.
The two missions are an addition to the contract Vast has with SpaceX to launch the Haven-1 space station to low-Earth orbit followed by a subsequent Dragon mission to fly crew to the commercial space station.
“I am excited to work with Vast as they build more opportunities and destinations for more people to travel amongst the stars,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s President and Chief Operating Officer.
Space Florida has approved “Project Hinton” at Cape Canaveral, which will come with $1.8 billion capital investment and the creation of 600 new jobs. The vote on Wednesday was to approved up to $65 million of state funds being committed to the project.
While Space Florida has yet to disclose the company behind this massive investment, speculation has largely centered on SpaceX, which is planning to construct a facility for its future Starship operations in Florida. SpaceX has expanded its presence at Cape Canaveral over the last decade as the company grew and its launch cadence increased to the highest, surpassing even national governments.
Starship is SpaceX’s mega-rocket in development, and plans for it to launch from Eastern Range (Kennedy Space Center plus the adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station) have become visible: the FAA Environmental Impact Statement in progress for Launch Complex 39A, another Environmental Impact Statement for Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral in progress, and the recent request by NASA for wetlands determination permit for a potential construction project at SpaceX’s Launch Complex 39A — presumably the Starship facility planned for that location.
Or, it could be something else. Time will tell.
SpaceX launched two satellites for Luxembourgish satellite company SES today aboard a Falcon 9. Liftoff was at 5:26 PM EST (22:26 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and into unsettled skies with storms lingering in the Space Coast region.
SpaceX chose to delay a liftoff attempt until the end of the launch window that opened at 3:59 PM EST and closed again at 5:26 PM, probably because of showers, potential lightning and/or cumulus clouds in the area.
Around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1090 earned its first soot when it completed its first mission successfully by touching down safely offshore on ASDS ‘Just Read The Instructions’ offshore in the Atlantic. JRTI and B1090 will return to Port Canaveral, where B1090 will be offloaded and returned to Hangar X for preparation for its next flight.
O3b mPower 7 & 8 are two telecommunications satellites in a planned constellation of eleven when completed. The pair were built by Boeing, and are operated by SES, a company headquarted in Luxembourg.
According to SES, “O3b mPOWER is SES’s second-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) system located 8,000km above Earth. To date, SES has launched six out of 13 O3b mPOWER high-throughput and low-latency satellites and has built an extensive ground infrastructure around the world. The system started providing global connectivity services in April 2024.”
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